“Tea Cup Tai Chi”
Conscious, intentional feeling and movement of the wrist is a huge factor in expressing internal power. Wrists are designed to be dynamic participants in arm movements, and wrists that are Song make it much easier to be Song throughout your body.
Tai Chi Weightlifting for Training Song and Jin
Many Tai Chi teachers advise their students to not lift weights…and with good reason. The rationale is that weight training builds muscle and may encourage a dependency on muscular responses rather than internal power. While I respect this thinking, particularly for those just beginning their Tai Chi explorations, there comes a time when judicious use of resistance training is not just helpful, but necessary, to grasp the nuances of the internal arts.
Self-training Song
Song is essential to Tai Chi. Song is releasing muscular tension so that we can shift to a different source of internal power, the intrinsic structure of the body as a unified whole.
Tai Chi Alchemy in Sedona: Raise Your Spirit!
Tai Chi Alchemy continues to spiral upwards with another magical, wonder-filled exploration into “What Else is Possible?”, fueled by the unconditional love and boundless curiosity of a remarkable group of people in one of the most beautiful locations in the world.
Raise Your Spirit
Spiritual awareness is a spectrum. It may come as a dramatic event, sometimes blissful, sometimes frightening. Or it may be a slow evolution over a long time. And one day you realize that all those synchronicities, telepathies, and strange feelings are not just coincidences; they are signs that your awareness is no longer limited to your rational mind, that you are capable of much more.
The Yin and Yang of the Three Nails
It is very important to become familiar with the Yin and Yang elements of your Taijiquan form in your practice so that the energy associated with a movement can be summoned confidently.
The Third Nail
Activating the brain-nail is yet another way of “raising the spirit,” a key concept in Taijiquan. There are many ways to raise your spirit, but they are done to create a similar effect
Three Nails and the Centerline
I was introduced to the “Three Nails” by Great Grandmaster William C. C. Chen about 30 years ago, and it has become a foundational element in my practice.
Three Nails Revisited-Part 2
Avoiding pain and injury is not the only reason for knee consciousness. Setting the knee is crucial in developing and expressing internal power (jin).